


Leave Tonight or Live and Die This Way

by kyoshi_lesbians



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27495964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyoshi_lesbians/pseuds/kyoshi_lesbians
Summary: There had been no fights, no raised voices or slammed doors. No vicious words exchanged through clenched teeth and teary eyes - none of the usual dramatics that come with these sorts of stories.The first time Ty Lee ran away, it started with a simple question: would anyone notice if she was gone?***Or, two times Ty Lee says goodbye to the person she misses the most.
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 62





	Leave Tonight or Live and Die This Way

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a coffee induced haze to the tune of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, which is where the title name comes from. Unlike that song, this has a happy ending.

There had been no fights, no raised voices or slammed doors. No vicious words exchanged through clenched teeth and teary eyes - none of the usual dramatics that come with these sorts of stories.

The first time Ty Lee ran away it started with a simple question: would anyone notice if she was gone?

When she was thirteen, Ty Lee decided to test that question out. She walked out her front door, crept through the darkened streets, and eventually climbed through Mai's third story bedroom window, landing on the floor as quiet as a cat.

Mai had nearly shot her with a barrage of shuriken. 

"Tell me when you're coming next time," Mai snapped, lowering the arm she had raised to defend herself against an intruder, a handful of knives held tight between her knuckles. 

"It's more like I'm leaving," Ty Lee said, only realizing how little sense that made to Mai after the words had left her mouth. 

"Then tell me when you're leaving,” Mai said, undaunted. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you even mean with that?” 

“I mean, can I stay here for the night? I’m sorry for scaring you. I just couldn't risk your parents finding out I’m here and telling my family.” 

"Well... I guess I can't throw you out when you went to all this trouble."

Ty Lee threw her arms around Mai and hugged her tight. Mai didn't even pretend to object. 

“I promise to never leave without telling you,” Ty Lee said. “And to let you know the next time I plan to hop through your window.”

"You better. Unless you want to get stabbed." Ty Lee laughed into Mai's neck, and if it was a little watery, Mai didn't mention it. 

She had stayed hidden away in Mai’s bedroom for three nights. Mai snuck meals up to her when her parents weren’t paying attention, shared her bed with her, and let Ty Lee braid her hair into increasingly intricate designs. 

The first two nights had answered Ty Lee’s question: No one came looking for her. She stayed the third night as a treat to herself. Lazying around with Mai in the space of that extended goodbye was the most fun Ty Lee had in ages. She wanted to keep that moment, to soak up and store away the feeling of Mai and her existing in their own world. Ty Lee spoke quietly even though she knew Mai’s parents would never hear them, for fear of breaking that fragile illusion. 

But Ty Lee had her answer, and it was time to act on it. On the third afternoon she had hugged Mai goodbye one last time and left the way she came. She did a backflip out the window and landed on the ground without making a sound. 

A week later she was performing her first acrobatic act in front of hundreds of spectators. 

Five years later, Ty Lee replays those old comforting memories of days spent in Mai’s bedroom as she packs her bags, again, and walks out the front door of her family’s house into the blue night. Again. 

She isn’t testing whether anyone will look for her now. She’s gotten that answer, and besides, she’s not a kid anymore. At eighteen years old, she’s free to leave. 

No, she has a different question guiding her tonight.

When Ty Lee sneaks into Mai's bedroom window, it's almost a mirror image of that first time. 

Ever since Ty Lee came back to live in her family’s home, and has been able to see Mai again, she’s reached Mai through this window. At this point the motions of the few well-placed jumps it takes to climb up is far more comfortable for her than walking through the front door. 

Ty Lee realizes, as she's pinned to the wall with six perfectly aimed shurkin, what makes this moment even more nostalgic is that she once again forgot to tell Mai that she was on her way over. 

Oops.

"You promised you’d always warn me when you were going to do that," Mai drawls. She crosses her arms and steps closer to Ty Lee, but she doesn’t move to take the shuriken out. Ty Lee’s shoulders and legs are pinned limply to the wall and Mai is smirking down at her, apparently very pleased with getting to show off. If she wants Ty Lee to be impressed, it’s definitely working. 

"Mai,” she says, and she doesn’t know how to continue. 

Mai tilts her head almost imperceptibly to the side. _Go on._

____

____

"Mai," she says again. "I'm leaving Caldera." 

"This time for good," she adds, since Mai isn't saying anything. She’s composed her expression into that blank mask that she wears around her parents and teachers and anyone else who demands her to be perfect, and Ty Lee hates it, Mai’s not supposed to be like that with her. It’s only in her eyes and the extra tight set of her mouth that Ty Lee can see the betrayal her best friend is feeling. 

“I’m honored you’re taking time out of your big plans to tell me,” she says, and it’s sarcastic, but her tone is even and clipped, just like when she’s playing the perfect daughter at her family’s dinner parties. “How lucky I am that you kept _that _promise.”__

____

____

“Well... it was the more important of the two?” 

“Whatever. You’ve told me.” Mai turns away from her. “You can go now. Since leaving is what you do best.” 

“I never wanted to leave you behind.” 

“Yet here we are.” 

"Come with me.”

Mai turns around at that. 

“I can’t,” Mai says. Her voice is an octave lower than usual, a touch more raspy. That is the only crack in her mask that indicates how difficult those words may have been to say. 

"You can. _We _can,” and Ty Lee’s voice is so full of hope, Mai must be able to hear that. “You don’t need to stay for them. Do something for yourself for once!”__

____

____

“That’s not the reason why I can’t go with you.” 

“Then why?” 

Mai doesn’t answer. She looks past Ty Lee like she’s pretending she’s not there, but her jaw is clenched so tight it looks painful. Like she’s working to swallow words down. Ty Lee waits to see if any will break through, but one minute of awful silence only leads to another. 

"Alright,” Ty Lee says softly, “I just need to do one more thing before I go." 

Most of Ty Lee’s body is still stuck, immobilized, but she can move her forearms. Her and Mai are already so close together, Mai having only stepped closer to her the more angry she got. Ty Lee moves her hands into the narrow space between them. Slowly. 

Mai’s gaze snaps to her, and Ty Lee stares back like it’s a contest, the same way she used to hold the gaze of tiger-lions at the circus when she wanted them to come close. To trust her. 

Giving Mai enough time to back away, shove her off, or pin her with even more knives, Ty Lee places one gentle hand on the nape of Mai's neck and brings one hand to cup the sharp curve of her jaw. Mai's eyes widen as far as Ty Lee has ever seen them. She can't tell what emotion lies there - if it's fear or longing or a mix of both. All Ty Lee knows is that she's never seen Mai look that way before.

Ty Lee leans in close enough to feel Mai's shallow breaths against her lips. But she can’t − she can’t bring herself to close that gap. Ty Lee stays there, trapped in time by the shadow of uncertainty. 

Mai does it for her. Catches Ty Lee’s lips in her own and moves her body against her. Ty Lee leans into it, tangles one hand in Mai’s hair and wraps another around her waist; if this is the one time she gets to do this, she’s going to do it right. 

_This is it. _Here is the answer to Ty Lee’s question and it’s_ wonderful. _

_____ _

_____ _

____

____

When they break away Mai’s got this soft smile on her face, a rare smile, and her gaze is pinning Ty Lee in place more than a million knives ever could. 

“I just need a few minutes to pack and say goodbye to Tom-Tom,” Mai tells her. 

“You wha− what?” 

“If we want to make it out before dawn we should leave soon. You should know that,” Mai smirks, “You’re the expert.” 

It takes a minute for Ty Lee to get it; she’s still a bit light-headed. “You’ll come with me?

“If you feel the same way,” she says, “I’ll go with you wherever.” 

Ty Lee kisses her again. Because she can now. Because by the time the sun rises tomorrow, they’ll be on their way gone, and she’ll have the person she would have missed more than anything right by her side.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I can be found at [@kyoshi-lesbians](https://www.kyoshi-lesbians.tumblr.com) on tumblr.


End file.
